Gene Haas has explained why Guenther Steiner was replaced as team principal ahead of the new season with the American F1 team appointing Ayao Komatsu as his replacement.
Steiner played a huge role in helping Haas get onto the grid in F1 back in 2016 with the team becoming the first American constructor to win points on its debut.
The charismatic Italian was at the forefront of Haas from the outset with team owner Gene Haas taking a back seat.
As well as being a popular figure in the paddock, Steiner had become famous as a result of the popular Netflix series Drive to Survive.
Guenther Steiner has been replaced at Haas
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His antics and direct personality led to him writing a book which was published last year and became a best seller.
But on the track, Steiner was struggling to get Haas climbing up the grid as they finished bottom of the Constructors' Championship for the second time in three years.
That was ultimately the reason Haas felt the reason that a change was needed ahead of the new season and Steiner's contract wasn't renewed.
“It came down to performance,” Haas told Formula1.com.
“Here we are in our eighth year, over 160 races – we have never had a podium. The last couple of years, we’ve been 10th or ninth.
“I’m not sitting here saying it’s Guenther’s fault, or anything like that, but it just seems like this was an appropriate time to make a change and try a different direction, because it doesn’t seem like continuing with what we had is really going to work.”
He added: “We had a tough end to the year. I don’t understand that, I really don’t.
"Those are good questions to ask Guenther, what went wrong.
Guenther Steiner was part of Haas when they first joined F1 in 2016
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"At the end of the day, it’s about performance. I have no interest in being 10th anymore.”
Ayao Komatsu has been confirmed as Steiner's replacement, who previously worked as the team's director of engineering.
“We looked from within, at who had most experience,” Haas added. “Ayao has been with the team since day one, he knows the ins and outs of it.
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Guenther Steiner was a popular figure in the F1 paddock
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“My biggest concern is when we go to Bahrain, we need to show up with a car that is ready to go. Maybe having more of a managerial-type and engineering approach, we’ll see if that has benefits.
“I think Guenther had more of a human-type approach to everything with people and the way he interacted with people, he was very good at that.
“Ayao is very technical, he looks at things based on statistics – this is what we’re doing bad, where can we do better. It’s a different approach.
“We really do need something different because we weren’t really doing that well. Like I said, it all comes down to eight years in, dead last. Nothing more I can say on that.”
